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SALT LAKE CITY — One man's mission to find his birth parents resulted in a reunion that was much more than anyone could have imagined.
Thirty-eight years ago, Patrick Giblin was born to two teenage parents who placed him for adoption, according to Today. On the day of his birth, his birth mother, Stephanie Ripple, was able to sneak in some time with her baby boy before she had to say goodbye.
"I told him, 'One day, I will see you again,'" she told Today.
Giblin was raised in a happy family with "wonderful" parents, and his birth parents went on with their lives too.
Fast forward to adulthood, when Giblin became a father himself. He decided it was time for him to learn about the people with whom he shared his genes.
"It was fueled by both curiosity and the desire to better understand my biological background," he told Today.
With the help of an adoption agency, he was able to track down Ripple, who had dreamed of that phone call for nearly four decades. She was able to track down Giblin's birth father, Todd Ripple, whom she hadn't seen since Giblin's birth.
The pair had been kept apart by their parents once news of the pregnancy broke.
"It was forbidden that we continue the relationship," said Ripple.
As the birth parents reconnected with the son they never knew, they found themselves reconnecting with each other as well, they told today. So much in fact, that they rekindled the feelings they'd had for one another 38 years earlier.
"For me, it was like 35-plus years just disappeared. It was the same," Todd Ripple said.
The couple was recently married, much to their son's delight.
"Sometimes life comes full circle and gives you back more in return than you ever missed the first time around," Giblin said.
Giblin told Today he still sees his birth parents regularly and that he couldn't have pictured a better outcome when he set out to track them down.
"I had hopes but no expectation," he said. "It's been one complete surprise after another."
